Banksy Tox Graffiti Camden Town

Saturday afternoon the rain was lashing down in London … a typical summers day! Not being scared of the rain – I ain’t a big Southern softy – I headed over to Camden Town for the start of an afternoon and then evening of fun. Before the fun and games began, I had a wee peek of Eduardo Kobra’s beautiful Chalk Farm Mural and then the nearby, much talked about Banksy, Tox stencil.

Banksy created the Tox stencil – located on Jeffrey Street right next to Kentish Town Road, almost apposite Quinns bar, which is most definitely worth popping into for a drink – as a tribute to the notorious vandal/tagger/graffiti artist Tox aka Daniel Halpin. Tox is currently languishing in a prison cell for his crimes.

Only Banksy knows whether his latest high profile piece is in honour of Tox or whether he is mocking him. Flip a coin! In the minds of many, Tox is nothing but a blight on the landscape, a talentless ego maniac with very, very limited abilities who deserves to be residing at her Majesty’s Pleasure! A few people think Tox is a hero, a legend, someone to look up to!

Some graffiti is art and most definitely enhances the landscape, depending on where it is located! On the other side of the coin, some graffiti is nothing but mindless vandalism, that is an absolute blight on the community.

Is Tox a vandal or street artist … it isn’t really for me to say. But it seems that Banksy is revered and Tox is not, so he is sent to prison. Read all about Tox over at the Guardian.

And the other question I would like to raise if this latest Banksy was by anyone other than him, I would bet everything I have, which aint a lot … that his Tox piece would have been painted over, instead of having a sheet of perspex put over it to preserve it… and unbelievably there is even CCTV monitoring it! I guess the owner of the building is trying to figure out how to make a pile of money out of this piece of vandalism!